MM Rahmatullah: Though Bangladesh has yet not made clear that no case of Corona virus infection has been found in the country. But, when there’s global worry over fast-spreading Corona Virus, Bangladesh deserves praise for taking timely and effective precautions to protect the country from spread the Virus.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina already orders Bangladeshi`s to be brought back from Chaina and it`s a great decision. The National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management team, which not only discussed in detail the steps taken to ensure that the we remained free from the attack of the virus and the resultant respiratory illness, but also correctly stressed the importance of full preparedness on the part of all the concerned entities to deal with any eventuality concerning Corona Virus.

The head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday he is confident in China`s ability to contain a new Corona Virus that has killed 106 people and he called for calm, saying he did not think foreigners should be evacuated, Chinese media reported.

As concern mounted about the impact of the corona virus on the world`s second-biggest economy, Chinese authorities reported a surge in cases, while the United States warned citizens against travel to China and financial markets wilted.

Although cases of the flu-like virus have appeared in more countries, with Sri Lanka and Cambodia the latest, none of the 106 deaths has been outside China, and all but six have been in the central city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged last month.

The head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a meeting with State Councilor Wang Yi in Beijing, said he approved of the government`s measures to curb the outbreak, the Xinhua state news agency said. Ghebreyesus was not available for comment but his agency said his aim was to strengthen the partnership with China, in particular on the response. A WHO panel of 16 independent experts twice last week declined to declare an international emergency over the outbreak.

While more cases have been emerging outside China in people who have travelled from there recently, the WHO said only one of the overseas cases involved human-to-human transmissions. "That’s still one case too many. But we’re encouraged that so far we have not seen more human-to-human transmission outside China," the WHO said on Twitter.

On the other hand, Asian nations were ramping up defenses against a deadly viral epidemic Tuesday, sealing borders, shuttering public places and clamping down on visitors from China. Concern over the steadily expanding contagion, which has killed over 100 in China and sickened more than 4,500, is prompting an increasingly urgent push for protection. All aspects are being looked into and nothing is left to chance. The authorities have moved in the right direction by sufficiently briefing public sector and private sector health entities in the country on the ways to anticipate and preempt the disease as well as to prevent it from spreading in case of any incidence.

Residents would do well to ascertain news reports about the disease from reliable and official sources and avoid giving heed to rumors.

Globally, fears over the virus refuse to abate as it has accelerated its spread in China and it seems the ability of the virus to spread is actually getting stronger. Chaina President Xi Jinping himself has termed the outbreak a grave situation.

The epidemic has revived memories of the SARS outbreak that originated in China and killed nearly 800 as it spread around the world in 2002 and 2003. Its spread has come amid China’s busiest travel period of the year, when millions crisscross the country or head abroad for the Lunar New Year holiday. Global concern is not without reasons as cases have been reported in varied places such as Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, Taiwan Japan, South Korea, the US, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France, Canada and Australia.

There are still many unknown factors, such as how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people. It can cause pneumonia, which has been deadly in some cases. The incubation period for the virus can range from one to 14 days, during which infection can occur, which was not the case with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The biggest challenge is that the latest virus spreads before symptoms show. SARS was a corona Virus that originated in China and killed nearly 800 people globally in 2002 and 2003.

Although airports around the world have stepped up screening of passengers from China, the effectiveness of these efforts is yet to be gauged. For example, France has decided not to take the temperatures of arriving passengers because, as Health Minister Agnes Buzyn pointed out, it provides a false sense of safety.

A serious note should be taken of the fact that in each of France’s three confirmed cases, they arrived without a fever.

Everybody should be alert and conscious as the virus continues to pose a threat globally, all countries need to remain vigilant to contain it through active surveillance, early detection, isolation, case management, and prevention of onward spread of pestilence.